


Getting killed does not sit well with a dragonknight

by TonalModulator



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Day 5, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, I think?, Nightmares, OCAngstAndFluffWeek2019, Sharing a Bed, but otherwise no warnings apply, didn't use warnings because it may or may not count as "major character death", i.e., the vestige getting killed at the beginning of ESO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 15:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20623685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonalModulator/pseuds/TonalModulator
Summary: Milia has a nightmare about getting sacrificed to Molag Bal and discusses her feelings of helplessness with her fellow Vestige and girlfriend.





	Getting killed does not sit well with a dragonknight

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for [OC Angst and Fluff Week 2019](https://indoril-nerevar-mora.tumblr.com/post/187177772035/oc-angst-and-fluff-week-2019-welcome-to-oc-angst), day 5: Nightmares, and also Sharing a Bed. It takes place sometime after "ALMSIVI Intervention."

_Milia struggled against the chains as they pulled her along to the altar. She wanted to shout some warning to the other prisoners, but the words would only yell in her head. How could she have let this happen again? Why did she talk to the benefactor again? She remembered what happened last time with excruciating clarity. No one should have to remember their own murder in such vivid detail._

_She was next. They dragged her up to the altar and lifted her with ease. She couldn’t struggle. They must have paralyzed her. Images swirled around her. The soul gem. The chanting. The dagger. It was all the same as last time. Why was she letting them do this again? She tried to fight the paralysis, but she was too weak. All she could do was scream as the dagger came down._

She took a gasping breath and opened her eyes. It was too dark to see her surroundings, but it didn’t feel like Coldharbour. It was too warm, and the ground underneath her was too soft. Her senses returned and she realized she wasn’t lying on the ground, but in bed. She had been having another nightmare.

She tried to lift her right arm to brush the hair out of her face, but it was stuck, just like in her dream. She started to worry that some part of the nightmare was real, or that maybe she hadn’t woken up at all, but then she remembered that her arm was just under Talvini, who seemed to still be asleep with her head on Milia’s chest.

Milia exhaled quietly with relief. She must not have screamed out loud. That was good. She didn’t want to have to explain her nightmare to Tal. She was sure Talvini had plenty of baggage of her own about getting killed and didn’t need to carry hers as well. She strained her neck down and placed a kiss on Talvini’s head.

“You okay?” Tal asked.

_Damn it._

Milia responded with a simple “Mhm,” and used her free hand to stroke Tal’s hair in the hopes that she’d drift back to sleep.

Tal had other ideas. “You were thrashing and screaming. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Must have.”

“What about?” She propped herself up on one arm and traced the Buoyant Armiger tattoos on her girlfriend’s chest which shimmered under the little light from the moons that leaked into the room through the cracks in the curtains.

“It wasn’t really a big deal.”

“Sounded like a big deal.” She paused. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.”

Milia sighed. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, exactly. She knew Tal would understand better than most people, having gone through it herself, but she also worried that she was the only one really struggling with it, and that Tal would just think she was weak for it. But, well, better to get it out of the way sooner than later, right?

“It was about getting sacrificed to Molag Bal,” Milia said quietly. “Kind of dumb, I guess, since it’s not like it lasted.”

“It’s not dumb,” Tal said. “Nobody likes getting killed. Most people just don’t live to remember it. And Coldharbour would give anyone nightmares.”

“It’s not Coldharbour that bothers me,” Milia said. “Well, of course Coldharbour bothers me, but not as much as the sense of helplessness. I just…No matter what I do, I’m too weak.” Her voice broke and her eyes filled with tears. “_Damn it,_” she hissed.

Talvini scooted up and shifted so that she was the one with her arm around Milia and pulled her to her. She ran her fingers through Milia’s hair and rubbed her back while Milia sobbed into her chest.

“How can I justify calling myself an adventurer, let alone a Buoyant Armiger, if I could just get dragged off and killed at any moment?”

“You can call yourself an adventurer because you spend so much of your time adventuring. And I’d say you’re pretty good at it. You’ve taken down Daedra, giant fabricants, Celestials, dragons claiming to be gods, Three know what else, because I’ve certainly lost track, and you’re always willing to run into danger to help someone who needs it. And you can call yourself a Buoyant Armiger because you’ve earned that title and had it bestowed upon you by Vivec hirself.”

“Then _why_ am I still. so. weak?” Milia whispered, her fingers digging into Tal’s back.

“You’re not weak, my love—” Tal began.

“I couldn’t even resist!”

“—you’re mortal.”

Milia sighed and relaxed her grip. “I hate it.”

“I know. But that’s okay. You _should_ prefer to be alive. And anyway, if anyone tries to hurt you, they’ll have to go through me.” Tal jokingly flexed her muscles as she said that. She was about as brawny as one would expect of a lifelong mage.

That brought a smile to Milia’s face. She pulled herself back up to be at eye-level with Talvini. “But they won’t get to you, because they’ll have to go through me first,” she teased.

Tal smiled and wiped the tears from Milia’s face. “As long as we’re together, then, no one will be able to hurt either of us, because they’ll have to go through an endless loop of us protecting each other. We’ve cracked the secret to invulnerability.”

Milia giggled and pulled her girlfriend in for a long, gentle kiss filled with love and reassurance. Her hand stayed on Tal’s face after they broke the kiss, and then her smile faded. “I don’t want to go back to sleep, though. I don’t want to dream about that again.”

Talvini cast a magelight and tossed it gently overhead. “I’ll stay up with you.”

Milia smiled. She felt bad for asking, but she was grateful for her understanding. “Thanks, Tal.”


End file.
